Finance ministry and central bank officials from industrialized and
emerging economies are likely to broach the sensitive topic of exchange rates at
a conference next week in China, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
"It's
hard to have a discussion about the Asian economies right now and not have
currencies form part of that discussion, so I would absolutely expect it to be
discussed," Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
U.S. officials have said China's past policy of tying the value of its
currency to the U.S. dollar has given the country a powerful trade advantage by
making its exports cheaper. Economic officials around the world have worried
that China's exchange rate policies were contributing to global economic
imbalances.
Beijing in July abandoned the peg that kept the yuan at
about 8.28 to the dollar and moved to a system that links the yuan to a basket
of currencies, a step that has allowed it to strengthen slightly against the
dollar.
U.S. officials greeted that move as a significant step, but said
they want to see China make further moves toward greater exchange rate
flexibility.
Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Timothy
Adams is due to visit Japan and China Aug. 29-Sept. 2.
In Dalian, China,
Adams is due to take part in a meeting of senior officials of the Group of 20,
which includes industrialized economies such as United States, Britain and
Japan, emerging markets including China, Brazil, and South Korea, and the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Adams is expected to
meet Chinese counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.
The U.S.
official is also due to meet Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan's vice finance minister, in
Tokyo, for talks on the regional economy.
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